How do you feel about SportVu now that every team has it? Has anyone talked about it among the players?

No. I donít think guys would understand what it is. It puts a premium on computer programmers. Itís a premium on guys, engineers, computer scientists, guys who can evaluate data and make it adjustable for scouts and make it adjustable for directors of personnel. Itíll be fascinating. I still think itíll be a while before you understand what makes Tony Parker different from John Wall in the open court. Youíll have the data, or closeout speed or thing that you measure . . . itís really infinite, the things that you can measure. It will take a while to trickle down to how players learn the game. Guys have a pretty good understanding of whatís a good shot and whatís a bad shot now, but no one is teaching that in youth basketball. Theyíre still teaching the same old. Itís going to be a while until that trickles down to the grass roots level and a coach understands this is what you need to do to make it to the next level.

Do you think at this point itíll be important for players to educate themselves on the new stuff? To understand how the league perceives them.

Itís an edge and players always look for an edge. Be it they work a little harder in the weight room to get a little stronger, whether they take 100 extra jumpers a day to get an edge on their jump shotÖ Itís just another edge, another way to get ahead of the competition. But obviously you can make more money the more edges you have.

Itíll take time for someone to take the data and make it digestible for players to understand, ĎOK, this is what I really need to work on.í The game is not changing. It doesnít change the way itís understood, described and analyzed. The game is still going to be the same, itís just going to be a different nuance.

Is there anything that you want to know about yourself that the new data could tell you?

Nope. I think it will be awesome when I retire, whenever that is, when I step away, to look at the numbers and see how I ranked, but Iím psycho enough to where that will cloud the way I play. That makes it less instinctual, to be honest with you. I rationally understand whatís good for me, obviously the threes, the paint shots, and I stay away from corner twos like theyíre the plague, but I donít want to know anything else.

I donít want to know. I donít want to know my weaknesses. I mean, I know what my weaknesses are, obviously, but I want to be as instinctual as possible, while still keeping the rational edge that keeps me a player in this league.

advanced scouting is good, tho. I think a lot of people need to understand what a player does in each situation and understand most people pre-determine the move they are going to do as well as go to a certain move in a certain pressure scenario. Stats about which way someone drives, where they shoot from are all great.

It's just when people start busting out stats on inside hoops to compare players and act like one is better because of stats. It's just a bad argument.

Stats CAN measure a team or player's game plan, but it can't measure (game by game or even series by series) the outcome.

Like I say every time we argue stats, nearly every series has some guy coming up who either does something nobody expected or plays like absolute shit. For some reason stat nerds ignore that or just act surprised like "Wow" not really understanding that it skewed everything that happened on both sides, even statistically.

Battier never said anything about stats being BS. in fact, he said the opposite, saying stats give edge. stats may get in the way of players playing better by hindering them from playing instinctively, but stats will help coaching very much.

players should never be flooded with advanced stats. those are just for the coaching staff. it's enough for the players to know what's good for them and what isn't.

The people that should be using these stats the most are the coaches (to put their players in the correct places to succeed) and all players on a defensive level (knowing where to funnel your man, etc).

Battier is likely correct in saying it's best to be instinctual. So maybe knowing your own advanced-stats-scouting-report is not the best, but you should know the players whom you expect to guard.

The people that should be using these stats the most are the coaches (to put their players in the correct places to succeed) and all players on a defensive level (knowing where to funnel your man, etc).

Battier is likely correct in saying it's best to be instinctual. So maybe knowing your own advanced-stats-scouting-report is not the best, but you should know the players whom you expect to guard.